The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor鈥檚 Office is asking for a court hearing to determine whether the detective in an aggravated murder trial and the state鈥檚 key witness, listed as Jane Doe in court filings, engaged in an improper relationship before, during and after the trial.
In 2019, a jury convicted Jerry Sims for the murder of Jamarr Forkland.
On Jan. 7, Sims requested a new trial arguing a detective on the case, Kenneth Lundy, who is now East Cleveland鈥檚 chief of police, had a sexual relationship with a witness and incited her to lie to the jury to secure a conviction.
In an interview with 海角破解版, Lundy acknowledged having a sexual relationship with the witness, Jane Doe, that started before the trial. Doe was in a relationship with Sims at the time of the murder and was the sole eyewitness who said she saw Sims commit the murder.
Doe has since recanted her testimony and accused Lundy of manipulating her to give false testimony. Sims is asking for a new trial.
Lundy told the prosecutor鈥檚 office the relationship started after the trial, according to a spokesperson for the prosecutor.
Instead of defending Sims鈥檚 conviction, the prosecutor's office says it wants to parse Lundy鈥檚 statements in front of a judge.
鈥淟undy has made inconsistent post-conviction statements regarding the veracity of Defendant鈥檚 allegations,鈥� the prosecutor鈥檚 office wrote in its Jan. 31, filing. 鈥淎dditionally, investigators scheduled an interview with Jane Doe for January 29, 2025, but it was cancelled at the last minute due to the illness of Jane Doe鈥檚 counsel. In short, questions remain regarding the claim raised in Defendant鈥檚 petition.鈥�
The prosecutor鈥檚 Jan. 31 filing opposes Sims鈥檚 petition for a new trial but did not lay out an argument for why the conviction should still stand, instead only asked for a hearing.
海角破解版 was issued a grand jury subpoena by the prosecutor鈥檚 office after the story with Lundy acknowledging the relationship was posted on Jan. 22.
The prosecutor鈥檚 office asked for 鈥渁ll audio, video or text recordings of phone calls, interviews or conversations between Matthew Richmond, or other 海角破解版 employees, and Kenneth Lundy, chief of East Cleveland Police鈥� about the Sims case.
Through a lawyer, Ideastream declined to cooperate and noted it had no materials responsive to the prosecutor's request.
to disclose source information in legal proceedings.
